Dover Chemical vapor release causes scare, closes I-77

Normal operations are expected to resume Tuesday at the Dover Chemical Corp. on Davis Road, where a vapor release Monday morning shut down the plant and caused concerns throughout the area for several hours.

Normal operations are expected to resume today at Dover Chemical Corp. on Davis Road, where a vapor release Monday morning shut down the plant and caused concerns throughout the area for more than four hours.

Precautionary steps included the closing of Interstate 77 in both directions and the voluntary evacuation of Dover Avenue Elementary School.

Fire Chief Russ Volkert said the chemical vapor consisted of broken-down components of dipropylene glycol, commonly known as automotive antifreeze.

No plant personnel or firefighters were injured, although Mayor Richard Homrighausen said two people who were driving by went to two area hospitals complaining of respiratory irritation.

The chemical can cause minor respiratory effects and skin irritation upon contact, according to various reference resources, Volkert said.

The dipropylene glycol was one of the reactants in a reactor that overheated, reported to the Dover Fire Department at 9:19 a.m.

Dover Chemical Company president Dwain Colvin, speaking at 2 p.m. from a temporary command center at the First United Methodist Church on N. Wooster Avenue, said company officials don’t know what caused the reactor to overheat. He said a thorough forensic investigation will be conducted, however.

Colvin said officials weren’t sure if the dipropylene glycol reacted with something else, or was the only chemical affected by the reaction.

What Colvin described as off-gas was ejected through the plant’s ventilation system and was not seen by employees. “The venting system worked very well,” he said.

Colvin described the incident as “an unfortunate incident.”

Fire Chief Volkert said the biggest potential hazard Monday was in the event of a fire

“Had that occurred, it would not have been over a widespread area,” Volkert said. “It would have been just local, pretty much to the area immediately around the plant.”

Volkert said he didn’t feel there was a need to evacuate homes, businesses and schools in the area.

“The best precaution was to avoid breathing the vapors,” the chief said.

The all-clear decision was reached at a time when officials saw that the temperature had stabilized and knew that the chemical reaction had stopped.

Both northbound and southbound lanes of nearby I-77, which were closed throughout the mid-day period, were reopened to traffic at 2 p.m.

Mayor Homrighausen said during a 3 p.m. news conference, that with the reactor situation under control, all fire departments had been released.

The mayor said the all-clear was issued at 1:47 p.m. through the reverse 911 system, which had been used initially to notify those in the immediate vicinity to stay inside and close their windows.

Volkert noted that the Dover City Schools administration voluntarily made the decision to move its students and staff from Dover Avenue Elementary to East Elementary.

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Afternoon kindergarten classes were canceled and morning classes were kept over all day. Students were also given lunch.

Hazardous material teams from Tuscarawas and Stark counties were on the scene monitoring the situation. Fire departments there to assist if needed included Dover, New Philadelphia, Strasburg, Bolivar and Sugarcreek. Smith Ambulance personnel also assisted

Some area residents wondered why emergency officials didn’t put out a common warning to everyone via the emergency broadcast system.

Patty Levengood, director of the Tuscarawas County Homeland Security & Emergency Management Agency, said the agency chose to use the reverse 911 system which was pre-mapped, at the request of incident commander, Chief Volkert.